How to Remove a Specific Item from an Array in JavaScript
Topic: JavaScript / jQueryPrev|Next
Answer: Use the splice() Method
You can use the splice() method to remove the item from an array at specific index in JavaScript. The syntax for removing array elements can be given with splice(startIndex, deleteCount).
Here, the startIndex parameter specify the index at which to start splicing the array, it is required; the second parameter deleteCount is the number of elements to remove (if it is set to 0 no element will be removed). Let's check out an example to understand how it works:
Example
Try this code »<script>
var colors = ["Red", "Green", "Blue", "Yellow", "Orange"];
var removed = colors.splice(2,1); // Removes the third element
console.log(colors); // Prints: ["Red", "Green", "Yellow", "Orange"]
console.log(removed); // Prints: ["Blue"] (one item array)
console.log(removed.length); // Prints: 1
var persons = ["Alice", "John", "Peter", "Clark", "Harry"];
removed = persons.splice(2,2); // Removes the third and fourth elements
console.log(persons); // Prints: ["Alice", "John", "Harry"]
console.log(removed); // Prints: ["Peter", "Clark"]
console.log(removed.length); // Prints: 2
var fruits = ["Apple", "Banana", "Mango", "Orange", "Papaya"];
removed = fruits.splice(2); // Removes all elements starting at index 2
console.log(fruits); // Prints: ["Apple", "Banana"]
console.log(removed); // Prints: ["Mango", "Orange", "Papaya"]
console.log(removed.length); // Prints: 3
</script>It is important to note that the splice() method modifies the original array on which it is called on, and returns a new array of the deleted elements, or an empty array if no elements were deleted.
Also, if the second argument (i.e. deleteCount) is omitted, all elements from the start to the end of the array are removed, as you can see in the above example.
Please check out the tutorial on JavaScript Arrays to learn more about arrays.
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